The Kampala Lord Mayor, Mr Erias Lukwago, has protested the $65 price tag levied on a single coronavirus test.
Mr Lukwago while speaking to journalists yesterday said the government should consider the urban poor who cannot afford to pay Shs240,500 for the Covid-19 test.
He implored the government to stop asking citizens to pay for Covid-19 testing, saying it will derail the situation, especially in hard-hit Kampala City.
The Ministry of Health set UGX 240,500 in fees for coronavirus testing services with effect from September 2020 for certain categories of individuals and organizations.
This was fueled by several requests from organizations and companies that were seeking to have their staff tested.
However, the health ministry is facing difficulties to sustain free testing due to the inadequate stock of test kits and resource constraints in the country. Ministry of Health said in a letter dated August 27, 2020.
“In view of the above fact, therefore, the government would like to introduce a testing fee of UGX 240,500 per test for certain categories of individuals and organizations,” the statement read in part.
The directive angered many Ugandans who find it very expensive, yet the ministry has no capacity to trace all the contacts of the affected persons.
“The new directive will instead aggravate the problem in the city, which is already a hotbed for the spread of Covid-19 because it will be hard for the urban poor to raise that money,” Lukwago said.
All indicators show that Uganda has not yet flattened the pandemic curve. Health experts say that the country is currently in a critical phase of the coronavirus spread.
Testing should be free so that the task force is able to map the prevalence rate of the infection.
The Lord Mayor urged the government to use part of the donations they received from well-wishers during the lockdown to test most at risk clusters.
“People are just recovering from the lockdown and do not have what to eat and that is why the Ministry of Health should at least ask for a supplementary budget to enable them to manage the crisis,” he told the press.
The Ministry of Health’s spokesperson, Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, in a tweet, urged the general public to take up sole responsibility their health.
Ainebyoona also stated that the coronavirus test is already subsidized. The health ministry is currently strained with tests for all government workers.
Other categories of people to be tested for free include patients who show Covid-19 symptoms, contacts of people who have tested positive, community surveys to establish the extent of the spread of the virus, surveillance samples and frontline health workers.
However, truck drivers, individuals seeking to know their Covid-19 status, Ugandans returning from abroad, organisations and visitors arriving into the country from other countries, will have to pay for COVID-19 tests.
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